Shrink
by Barnswallow13
Summary: Okay, so I probably should have guessed that my parents wouldn't believe it when I told them that I'd gone traveling through time and space inside a small blue box. I just didn't expect them to think I was legitimately insane.


**AN: This is a teaser for something longer that I have in the works right now. It may be awhile before I start uploading it, but I promise it'll be worth the wait.**

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"So, Natasha, tell me about your friends. Do you have any that are particularly close to you?"

I studied my analyst intently. Sure, I had friends. A year ago, I would have said that Janelle was my closest friend and knew the most about me. But that had all changed on June 16th. There were now things that she didn't – couldn't – know about me. I had managed to tell my mother about what had happened, hence getting sent to the shrink. I was considering telling Janelle, but I wasn't sure if she would believe me.

"Yeah, there is one," I began, deciding to tell the analyst about the Doctor. If in a roundabout way. "He's pretty close. I mean, he probably knows more about me than anyone else."

"A boyfriend?"

"No!" I retorted immediately, shuddering. The thought of me and the Doctor… No. Just no. "He's way older than me!"

"Then what is he to you?"

"Well… that's kind of difficult to explain." The analyst sat forward, her expression gentle as she gave me her full attention. A silent invitation for me to attempt an explanation.

"He's… well. It's kind of complicated," I started again. "I guess I'd have to say that he's more like a favorite uncle, but at the same time, he's like my best friend." I sighed, looking off to the side. "And then there are the times that he acts like a freakin' five-year-old. Don't get me wrong, he is the most amazing person I've ever met, but he can be extremely irritating."

"I see," the analyst said, though it was clear from her expression that she didn't. "Natasha, tell me. How did you meet this man?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I said, shaking my head with a small smile. If she let it go at that, then I wouldn't offer any more information. But if she did ask, I'd tell her. If only to see the incredulous look on her face when I did.

The analyst returned my smile and said, "Don't worry, you can tell me." Her expression was earnest and open. I tried hard to hold back a snicker, because what I said next was going to blow her mind. That or make her think I really was crazy.

"Well, it happened about a year ago," I started. "though, I didn't actually meet him until about a month after." I frowned contemplatively, trying to remember exactly how long it had taken. "I think. Anyway, I was just going on a walk around my neighborhood when I came across this big blue box. Now, normally if I saw something like that I might have just thought, 'That's odd. What's that doing there?' and moved on. But the door was open a crack, you see, and then I just had to see what was inside.

"So I walked up to it and I pushed the door open, and I swear my jaw dropped all the way to China."

"Is that so?" the analyst said, making notes on her clipboard.

"Yours would have too," I replied. "There was a _huge_ room in there. Like there was no way that a room of that size could have fit into such a little box. It was bigger than this room, even." I held my arms out for emphasis. "At first I thought it was a trick, so I stepped back and walked all the way around the box, but it was just a little box. Even so, it had to be some pretty impressive artwork, so I went in to touch it to see where the illusion ended. Except it wasn't an illusion."

My analyst looked up at that. She was beginning to get a little wary. I struggled to hold in my laughter. It really was crazy, but that didn't make what happened to me any less real.

"In fact, no sooner had I stepped inside then the door slammed shut!" I slapped my hands together. "I tried frantically to get it back open again, but the room lurched and this weird wheezing groan started. The whole place was pitching wildly, like an airplane caught in a thunderstorm. It took several minutes for it to settle down again, but that wheezing noise didn't stop." Glancing at the clock, I decided to do away with the rest of the details for the sake of time.

"Of course, it didn't take long for me to figure out that I was on a ship of some sort, but no matter where I looked, there was no one on it. That's about when the ship herself activated the voice interface and I found out that she was alive."

"The ship was alive?" the analyst said in disbelief. I grinned at her expression. It was so worth it.

"Yep. That's right. I'd been kidnapped by a sentient alien spaceship."

The analyst just blinked at that one.

"Except, she's not just a spaceship. She travels in time, too. But anyway," I continued. "I spent a few days in there by myself, well, just me and the TARDIS anyway. That's the name of the ship, by the way. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, though I didn't find that out till later.

"We landed in England after that, and I spent a few weeks there. The TARDIS had taken me to one of her pilot's old companions, Sarah Jane Smith, and she was able to explain to me just who what the TARDIS was and who her pilot was and why he was important. She also taught me the basics of dealing with aliens, hostile and friendly alike. In fact, she was the one who helped me figure out _why_ the TARDIS had kidnapped me. Apparently, her pilot – a man called the Doctor - had gotten himself into a great deal of trouble, and the aliens who had captured him knew about all of his companions, so she couldn't go to them for help. So, the TARDIS just took the first person that she could entice into her control room, and it just happened to be me."

The analyst was having trouble keeping up, I could tell. She was alternating between scribbling like crazy on her clipboard and staring at me like I'd grown a second head.

"The next place the TARDIS took me was Victorian London. Met a lizard woman there named Vashtra. She had some useful information on the Doctor. After that, we – me and the TARDIS, that is – went traveling all over the place looking for him. Again, it took us about a month to find him, and of course, after we did, it took almost a week to mop up the mess. Ended up saving the universe in the process," I threw in casually. "He dropped me back off at home not long after that, and he still comes to visit sometimes. I go off traveling with him in the TARDIS on occasion.

"So, that's how I met the Doctor. He's the friend I was talking about. And he's about nine hundred years old," I added.

"Miss Bernard," the analyst said with a pitying expression on her face. She was completely convinced that I was crazy. "Are you on any medication?"

"No," I said with a smile. "See, I told you that you wouldn't –" I broke off abruptly as a familiar sound wound its way into the office: the wheezing groan of the TARDIS's engines. I stood and looked towards the door.

"I've got to go," I said abruptly.

"Go where?" the analyst asked in bewilderment.

"Can't you hear that?" I asked, already knowing from her expression that she could. "That's the TARDIS's engines. She's materializing somewhere nearby. It was lovely talking to you!" I called over my shoulder as I dashed out of the office.

"Wait just a minute!" she called, scrambling after me.

The TARDIS was sitting in the middle of the waiting room, and my parents were staring at it in shock.

"Mom, Dad, don't wait up for me," I said as I walked quickly towards the ship. "I'll meet you back at home." With that, I boldly strode up to the TARDIS's doors and pushed them open.

The Doctor, with his floppy hair, tweed jacket, and bowtie, poked his six foot frame out from behind the TARDIS console.

"So, Nat," he said with a smile in his distinct British accent. "Where do you want to go this time?"


End file.
